'Deluded' Keir Starmer has made huge mistake and these three words prove it
Express reporter Adam Toms argues that the PM should have more of an appreciation for the nature of Britain's constitution
Sir Keir Starmer has a strange and irritating little habit, and it says a lot about him. Amid uncertainty over his future, again and again, the Prime Minister has said, “I was elected” by the British people in 2024. Last week, he said: “I was elected to office to serve the people, to serve the country, that's what I believe in, and that's what I'll be getting on with.”
In April, Sir Keir said: “I was elected with a mandate to deliver change.” In February, he said: "I had a five-year mandate to deliver the change. I intend to get on with what I was elected to do." Apart from being extremely tiresome, this insistence is erroneous. The PM was not elected into the highest elected office in the land by the British people two years ago, he was selected as the Labour MP for Holborn and St. Pancras in north London by 18,884 people.
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As the leader of the party with a majority in the House of Commons, he then entered No. 10.
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Brits voted for candidates in their constituencies, not him. He also seems to say “my Government” a lot. It’s not yours, Prime Minister, it is the King’s.
It seems Sir Keir thinks he is the leader of a Government in a country with a presidential system.
Donald Trump can legitimately say he was chosen to lead by the American people - for good or ill, depending on your opinion of the man.
Each ballot was cast in favour of his person, not the Republican Party.
Sir Keir needs to realise that he was not selected to lead the country - Labour was.
Which is why it could be argued that the party’s leader can be changed.
Whether or not Starmer should be ousted, however, is up to the Parliamentary Labour Party after the Makerfield by-election result is declared.
These complaints may seem picky, but at the very least, the British people can expect their country’s system of Government to be comprehended and upheld.
The UK’s constitutional monarchy is the best way of doing things - combining executive and soft, symbolic power.
Prime ministers in the past seemed to understand that and express more humility.
Words are important, and the occupant of No. 10 should be careful what they say. Sir Keir's phrasing belongs elsewhere - and using it could grease the wheels of what some might argue is an Americanisation of British politics.
Starmer’s predecessors often referred to the Government, or His or Her Majesty's Government.
As his time in the Commons came to an end in 1964, Winston Churchill said: "Among the many different aspects and chapters of my public life, it is my tenure as a Member of Parliament that I value most highly."
Clement Attlee once said that a prime minister must know when to listen to his Cabinet, as “he is a chairman, not a master”.
Sir Keir, whether he actually believes what he says, or he is misspeaking (surely, as a very high-ranking lawyer, he must understand the nation’s constitution), the PM should keep the former Labour leader's words in mind for the remainder of his tenure, however long that is.
